The Lock Artist

"I sometimes wonder how my life would have gone if not for that one old lock on that one back door. If it hadn't gotten stuck so much, or if Uncle Lito had been too lazy to replace it...Would I have ever found that moment?"

The Lock Artist is a pretty good thriller about a professional safecracker. Michael is a teenage kid who, after going through a trauma, does not speak. He finds a talent for picking locks, and that gets him involved in a prank played on a rival high school's quarterback. He then meets the girl of his dreams, but her father gets him involved in advancing his skills to opening safes and, since he is mute, he is a valued operative.

The story is narrated by Michael from prison. Alternating chapters take us from his beginnings to his current job in Los Angeles with professional con artists. Author Steve Hamilton creates a very interesting voice in Michael, a kid who cannot speak but has a very wry sense of humor. A couple of my favorite lines are him describing a local restaurant: "If you've ever eaten at a Denny's, just imagine that same dining experience except with food that's about half as good," or "Forget being a professional safecracker. Just open a clothing store in Beverly Hills. The working conditions are a lot better, and you'll make a lot more money."

The novel also goes into great detail about how lock-pickers and safecrackers ply their trades. Here's a tip for those of you have safes--don't use the factory preset combinations. Also, if you have a touch pad safe, don't leave fingerprints on the buttons.

Where the book excels is the fish out of water aspect to it--Michael is a kid who doesn't speak, but he's thrown in with all kinds of crooks, which makes for some droll situations, especially when guns come out. The romance with his girl, where they exchange comic book drawings (both are gifted artists) is kind of sweet, but a little too idealized. I wonder if Hamilton is reliving a crush of his youth, only this time he actually gets the girl.

The Lock Artist is valuable, though, for farming new ground in the sometimes tired crime novel genre.